It’s something that I had suspected for a long time. That some of the sparrows here were different. I admit I’m no David Attenborough and definitely no Bill Oddie, but something seemed different. I am happy to say that the mystery has been resolved. We have two types of sparrow.

I don’t mean the so-called Hedge Sparrow, that even I know is in fact a Dunnock. We have the House Sparrow [Passer domesticus] Gråsparv, but we also have the Tree Sparrow [Passer montanus] Pilfink. Now that I know what I’m looking for it’s painfully obvious that they are distinct birds rather than just ‘sparrows’

For as long as I can remember the House Sparrow has been one of the most familiar of garden birds, the Tree Sparrow is it’s country cousin, and not surprisingly therefore much more numerous here.

Here for those of you, who like me wouldn’t be able to tell the two apart are some photographs that illustrate the two major differences